Light House

The first level introduces the ultimate goal, the lighthouse light, and the first puzzle which is completed by referencing a list of nautical flags with elements in the environment, a skill which is tested again by the final puzzle.

The three middle levels all share the common focus of finding words from letters within a sequence, either as part of other words or directly from the alphabet. This section teaches another key element of the final puzzle, which requires the player to take the word from each floor and reference it with a number to find the key.

The Power Room breaks from this pattern by presenting a simple wire puzzle that requires players to consider the story they're walking through to place the wires correctly and journey from overworking to a new life at the lighthouse with their partner. It’s also a required puzzle to stop players guessing the final word without engaging with the narrative.

The project was initially inspired by the exploration of ancient tombs by torchlight in Indiana Jones & The Great Circle, along with my own long love of lighthouses and their similar distant and forgotten nature. One explored downwards into darkness, the other upwards into light.

The first concept for the game had an active timing mechanic with the player required to explore up a dark lighthouse and restore its light. Finding clues to puzzles and keys to locks by candlelight before their candle burns down and they had to start the room again from the beginning. Although I added checkpoints, it soon became apparent through early playtests that the pressure of running out of time and frustration of resetting distracted from the core challenge of the puzzles.

I developed a narrative to inspire the puzzles for each level of the lighthouse. I researched lighthouse design with reference to the Trinity House website and devised an initial story around the keepers of the lighthouse through history. This initial scenario revolved around the use of key dates within the lives of the keepers as the solution of the puzzle on each floor.

Eventually I settled on the most recent keeper to simplify the story, viewing the lighthouse more as a modern home conversion than an historic place of work. The final story of a nurse meeting a new partner and escaping the city to find a new life is loosely inspired by similar stories covered on programs like Ben Fogal: New Lives In The Wild and Escape to the Country.

With the now simplified story, I moved from numbers to using words for the puzzles to better tie the solutions into the narrative and progression of the player towards their goal. Along with the final puzzle design, I made the torch they carry a lighthouse for the final puzzle and flipped the level to immediately present the player with their ultimate goal of lighting the light.